Ottawa, St. Bede show promise, not polish, at Bruins’ 7-on-7 workouts

PERU — The sun was shining, the temperatures were moderate, and a light breeze blew over the four football fields outlined on the St. Bede Academy grounds.

While conditions couldn’t have been better, the play of the four teams involved in the seventh annual Bruins 7-on-7 event was a little hit-and-miss, but that’s exactly what summer workouts are for: working out the bugs.

From the first whistle signaling the start of the teams’ pregame routine to the Bedan Club making and distributing hot dogs and treats to all the coaches and players, there were some shining plays turned in by the quarterbacks and receivers for the varsity and JV football teams from Ottawa, Kewanee, Durand-Pecatonica (Du-Pec) and the host St. Bede Bruins. And in between those, just as many defensive plays were made by their counterparts.

However, there were enough overthrows, drops and unfinished routes to remind the substantial crowd that this is still summer ball, and all eight clubs are a work in progress with just two weeks left before the official opening of IHSA-sanctioned practices.

“Our goal today was to keep getting better and to just see someone other than ourselves in practice … and everything is going great,” SBA coach Jim Eustice said. “It’s not about completing every pass, necessarily. It’s about knowing first and foremost where we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to be doing. …

“We’re running the same offense and the same defense we’ve been running for years and years, so our kids know pretty well what they’re doing, and when they understand things and don’t have to think too much and can just play, they play a lot harder.

“This [camp)] is tradition now. Basically, it’s a great way to end our summer. The kids have been working hard for the last three weeks, and to finish it against three great coaches and three great programs at three different classes, that’s pretty exciting.”

The play of returning Bruins quarterback John Brady was very solid. The NewsTribune All-Area first-team pick and an all-Big Rivers second-teamer with 1,699 yards and 14 passing TDs a year ago worked primarily on timing routs, many of them slants and outs. His throws were strong and, for the most part, accurate.

On the defensive side, a leaping interception by Ryan Brady and a couple of pass breakups by Callan Hueneburg were among the highlights.

“Defensively we saw different formations,” Eustice said, “so we made sure our kids are lining up right. Offensively we saw some different defenses that sometimes we’ll see during the season, sometimes we don’t, but the kids learned how to make adjustments.”

For the Ottawa Pirates, participating in their third 7-on-7 of the summer (the others at Northern Illinois University and at home last week against St. Bede), quarterback Colby Mortenson showed off his arm strength with regularity, heaving several deep balls and making solid connections with his wideouts, including returning Times All-Area first-team selection Levi Sheehan.

However, at times that strength would betray him, causing him to occasionally overthrow receivers on outs and slants over the middle.

Still, there was more that enough quality to expect Mortenson, once he syncs better with Sheehan and other veteran wideouts, will be a more-than-capable replacement this fall for graduated record-setting QB Braiden Miller.

“Colby’s really made some good strides here this summer,” Ottawa coach Chad Gross said. “He’s worked hard, and all the receivers I’m happy with today. A lot of those are returners, so we expect them to know what’s going on, and that’s showing today. … We’re now at the point where the kids should know what’s going on and will play with a little more confidence and speed, refining the base stuff we want to run so we can hit the ground running come August.

“This is always a fun event. We’ve been coming over to this since I became head coach, and it’s awesome to compete against good teams we don’t play, good programs year in and year out. We want to have a good showing and compete, and we’ve done that.”